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Film, Video [Lakota Grass Dance] Title from Edison motion pictures 1890-1900: Sioux Ghost Dance

Digital viewing copy

About this Item

Title

  • [Lakota Grass Dance]

Other Title

  • Title from Edison motion pictures 1890-1900: Sioux Ghost Dance

Summary

  • Eleven dancers, including two boys (Johnny Burke No Neck, Seven Up) stand with their feet still, but their bodies swaying slightly. In the upper left corner, a mallet belonging to a drummer whose body is cut off by the frame begins to beat a hide drum, first with two slow beats and then more rapidly. Staring directly at the spectator, the boy on the left (Johnny Burke No Neck) opens his mouth wide in a silent shout, and the dancing begins. The man on the right, in a full headdress, whirls into the center. The brightness of the dancers' bone breastplates, the white feathers on their heads, and the white beadwork on their moccasins help the viewer to track them as they circle in clockwise fashion.

Names

  • Dickson, W. K.-L. (William Kennedy-Laurie), 1860-1935, film producer
  • Heise, William, camera operator
  • No Neck, Johnny Burke, 1883- performer
  • Seven Up, 1882- performer
  • Last Horse, performer
  • Thomas A. Edison, Inc., production company, film distributor

Created / Published

  • United States : Edison Manufacturing Co., [1894]

Headings

  • -  Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
  • -  Grass dance
  • -  Lakota Indians
  • -  Indian dancers--United States

Genre

  • Peep shows (Motion pictures)
  • Silent films
  • Short films
  • Nonfiction films

Notes

  • -  Duration: 0:24 at 20 fps.
  • -  This film was originally titled Sioux Ghost Dance. As there was no title frame on the original film, the title was taken from Charles Musser's Edison motion pictures 1890-1900. However, the dance depicted is not the Ghost Dance. Anthropologist and Library patron Dave Finster has identified the dance being performed as a Grass Dance, which was confirmed by Library of Congress dance curator, Libby Smigel and Library of Congress folklife specialist, Dr. Judith Grey. In the book, Sound, image, silence, Michael Gaudio also says that the dance depicted in the film is not the Ghost Dance: "The dancers do not hold hands; one of them, Last Horse, carries a tomahawk (no weapons were allowed to be carried during the Ghost Dance); none of the dancers wear Ghost Shirts; the motion in both dances is quick rather than a slow shuffle; and while the Ghost Dance had no instrumental accompaniment, the dancers in Dickson's films follow the beat of a drum."
  • -  According to Edison film historian C. Musser, this film and others shot on the same day (see also Buffalo Dance) featured Native American Indian dancers from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and represent the American Indian's first appearance before a motion picture camera.
  • -  Camera, William Heise.
  • -  Performers: Johnny Burke No Neck, Seven Up, Last Horse.
  • -  Performers identified in Gaudio's Sound, image, silence.
  • -  Performers probably include many of the following people: Parts His Hair, Black Cat; Hair Coat, Charging Crow, Dull Knife, Holy Bear, Crazy Bear, Strong Talker, Pine, Little Eagle, Young Bear, and Runs About. According to Sagala's Buffalo Bill on the silver screen, all were the members of the Lakota tribe who accompanied Buffalo Bill to the Edison studio on September 24, 1894.
  • -  Filmed September 24, 1894, in Edison's Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey.
  • -  Summary derived from description in Gaudio's Sound, image, silence: art and the aural imagination in the Atlantic world, Chapter 5, Dancing for the Kinetograph: The Lakota Ghost Dance and the Silence of Early Cinema.
  • -  According to the summary from Edison films catalog, no. 105, July, 1901 for Ghost Dance: "One of the most peculiar customs of the Sioux Tribe is here shown, the dancers being genuine Sioux Indians, in full war paint and war costumes", but the dance depicted is most likely a version of the Grass Dance, shortened and adapted for depiction in the small space of Edison's Black Maria studio.
  • -  Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1894-1912; Musser, C. Edison motion pictures 1890-1900, p. 125-126; Raff & Gammon. Price list of films, ca. June 1895, p. 2 [MI]; Edison films catalog, no. 105, July 1901, p. 41; Michael Gaudio's Sound, image, silence: art and the aural imagination in the Atlantic world, Ch. 5, Dancing for the Kinetograph: The Lakota Ghost Dance and the Silence of Early Cinema; Sandra Sagala's Buffalo Bill on the silver screen.
  • -  35 mm viewing print renumbered: FEC 8088 to FYA 1168.

Medium

  • viewing print 1 film reel of 1 (39 ft.) : si., b&w ; 35 mm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • FYA 1168 (viewing print)

Source Collection

  • Hendricks (Gordon) Collection (Library of Congress)

Repository

  • Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division Washington, D. C. 20540 USA dcu

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 00694139

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

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Credit Line: Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Dickson, W. K.-L. , Film Producer, William Heise, Johnny Burke No Neck, and Performer Seven Up. Lakota Grass Dance. performeds by Last Horse, produceds by Thomas A. Edison, Inc.Uction Company, Film Distributor [United States: Edison Manufacturing Co, 1894] Video. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/00694139/.

APA citation style:

Dickson, W. K. -., Heise, W., No Neck, J. B. & Seven Up, P. (1894) Lakota Grass Dance. Last Horse, performer, Thomas A. Edison, Inc.Uction Company, prod [United States: Edison Manufacturing Co] [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/00694139/.

MLA citation style:

Dickson, W. K.-L. , Film Producer, et al. Lakota Grass Dance. performer by Last Horse, prod by Thomas A. Edison, Inc.Uction Company, Film Distributor [United States: Edison Manufacturing Co, 1894] Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/00694139/>.